Nut harvester including rotatable suction tubes



July 14, 1970 NUT HARVESTER Filed July 11. 1967 J. M. PATTERSON 3,520,123

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JOSEPH M. PATTERSON ATTORNEY .J. M. PATTERSON NUT HARVESTER INCLUDINGROTATABLE SUCTION TUBES Filed July 11. 1967 11 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTORNEYATTORNEY July 14, 1970 J. M. PATTERSON NUT HARVESTER INCLUDING ROTATABLESUCTION TUBES Filed July 11. 1967 ll Sheets-Sheet 5 ON. mm

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NUT HARVESTERINCLUDING ROTATABLE SUCTION TUBES Filed July 11. 196'? 11Sheets-Sheet 8 445 125 L .32; 2 ll 1 28 1 2 '7 INVENTOR.

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INVENTOR.

JOSEPH M. PATTERSON ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,520,123 NUTHARVESTER INCLUDING ROTATABLE SUCTION TUBES Joseph M. Patterson, WinterPark, Fla., assignor to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporationof Delaware Filed July 11, 1967, Ser. N0. 652,506 Int. Cl. A01g 19/00US. Cl. 56-328 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A nut harvestingmachine, which moves along the ground, has a rotor with a plurality ofsuction tubes extending downwardly and outwardly therefrom. The tubesare vertically movable, and the ends thereof, which move in orbitalpaths, are maintained closely spaced from the ground by gage wheels. Acentrifugal blower draws nuts and debris through the suction tubes,rotor, and a suction duct. A centrifugal chamber and a vortex chamberbetween the duct and the blower separates the light debris from the nutsand heavy debris, which fall through a rotary vacuum sealing valve to aconveyor. The conveyor has an upper run which moves larger debris in onedirection and has a lower run which moves the nuts and small debris on agrate in the opposite direction. The grate passes the small debris, andthe nuts are carried from the grate by an elevator to a receptacle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a machinefor gathering randomly dispersed articles, such as nuts, from theground.

One of the problems in gathering small articles from the ground is thedifiiculty of grasping the articles because of their size. A method usedheretofore, with some success, has been to pick the articles up bysuction.

In a suction system having a power unit of given size, the force tendingto lift the nut or other article from the ground will depend on the sizeof the suction opening. In general, the wider the opening, the weakerthe suction force at the opening. Conversely, in a suction system with asmall opening, greater suction can be produced at the opening to exert agreater lifting force on the nut.

In the conventional pneumatic nut harvester, the span of the suctionopening determines the width of the swath taken through the nuts on eachpass of the machine, and each nut is exposed to the suction opening onceon each pass. Generally, therefore, with a conventional pneumatic nutharvester, the wider the suction opening, and the wider the swath taken,the weaker the suction and the smaller the percentage of nuts picked up.On the other hand, a small suction opening will produce a small swaththrough the nuts, but a higher percentage of nuts will be gathered. Withsmaller swaths, a larger number of passes will be required to cover thesame area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the machine of the present invention, arelatively wide swath is taken on each pass of the machine, and a highpercentage of nuts, or articles, encountered can be gathered on eachpass. In brief, in the preferred form of the invention, a rotor mountedin the machine has a plurality of suction tubes extending downwardly andoutwardly therefrom. The tubes, which are vertically movable, aresupported at their outer ends by gage wheels which maintain the outerends of the suction tubes in closely spaced relation to the ground, evenover uneven terrain. As the machine moves along a longitudinal path, therotation of the rotor moves the ends of the suction tubes in 3,520,123Patented July 14, 1970 different orbital paths (with respect to theground) about the axis of the rotor.

The suction system of the machine has a centrifugal blower at one endwhich expels air from a blower chamber. The blower draws air through thesystem from the outer openings of the suction tubes at the other end ofthe system. The air drawn in the suction tubes, which carries the nutsand debris, passes through the rotor and through a suction duct to acentrifugal chamber where the nuts and heavier debris are separated fromthe light debris. The nuts and heavier debris fall through a rotaryvacuum sealing valve to a conveyor outside the suction system, and thelighter debris is drawn in a helical path inside the suction systemthrough a vortex chamber into the blower chamber where the light debrisis expelled with the exhaust air.

On the conveyor outside the suction system, the nuts and smaller debrisfall through the upper run of the endless web of the conveyor to a grateto be carried in one direction by the lower run of the conveyor, whilethe larger debris is carried away in the opposite direction by the upperrun of the conveyor. The grate retains the nuts but passes the smallerdegris. The nuts are scooped off the grate by elevator buckets whichdump the nuts into a bag.

The spaced apart suction openings of the suction tubes have a total areawhich is not large in view of the width of the swath made by theorbiting suction tubes. More importantly, however, the suction openingof each tube crosses the longitudinal path of the machine twice on eachrevolution of the rotor, and the suction openings therefore providemultiple exposure of the nuts to suction on each pass of the machine.Moreover, the different orbital paths of the ends of the suction tubesoverlap to provide even more thorough coverage of the swath on eachpass.

It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a machinefor suction gathering of articles which provides a thorough coverage ofa relatively wide swath. It is another object of the present inventionto provide a nut harvesting machine with multiple coverage of a givenarea on a single pass. It is yet another object of the present inventionto provide a nut harvester which has multiple suction openings movablein overlapping paths across the ground. It is still another object ofthe present invention to provide a nut harvesting machine with multiplesuction openings each maintained a predetermined distance above theground even on uneven terrain. It is a further object of the presentinvention to separate articles, such as nuts, from debris gatheredtherewith.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of themachine of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view showing the left side of the machine;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view showing the right side of the machine;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view showing the rear of the machine;

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective showing a part of the suction system ofthe machine;

FIG. 6 is a view taken on the lines 66 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a view taken on the lines 77 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view taken on the lines 88 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a view taken on the lines 9-9 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view, taken as the view of FIG. 2, of the rotor;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the hydraulic system of the machine ofFIG. 1;

FIGS. 12A to 12F show the orbital paths, respectively, of each suctionopening individually with respect to a common linear longitudinal path;and

FIG. 13 shows the orbital paths of all suction openings collectivelywith respect to a single linear longitudinal path.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The nut harvesting machine ofthe present invention has a frame 15 in which a pair of axially alignedaxles 16 16 and 17 (FIG. 4) are joumaled. Each axle extends outboard ofthe frame 15 and each has a rear wheel, 18, 19, mounted thereon. Twohydraulic motors a, 2011 are mounted on the frame and connected,respectively, to the wheels 18 and 19 by drive trains which includedrive chains 21a, 2112, respectively. A single front wheel 22 (FIG. 1)is mounted on an axle 23 which is joumaled in fork 24. The fork 24 isrotatably mounted in the frame and is connected by chain 25 (FIG. 3) toa steering shaft 26. The steering shaft 26, which has a steering wheel27 secured at the upper end, is received in a steering column 28 securedto the frame of the machine in the operators cab, indicated generally at29. A seat 30 is provided for the operator in the cab, and the housing31 of an internal combustion engine 32 is mounted on the frameimmediately behind the operators cab.

A rotor (FIGS. 2, 10) joumaled in frame 15 has a hollow cylindrical bodyportion 39 with six rigid tubular sections 41 depending therefrom. Sixsuction members, or tubes, 42, which are connected, respectively, to thetubular sections 41 by flexible boots 43, extend downwardly andoutwardly from the rotor. Each suction tube comprises a rigid sleeveportion 44 and a nozzle portion 45. Nozzle 45 is flexible and may bemade of rubber, for example, to avoid damage caused by rocks or otherobstructions. Each of the six nozzles terminate on a generallyhorizontal plane (when the machine is on level ground) to define sixsuction openings 46a, 46b, 46c, 46d, 46e, and 46 (FIG. 13) parallel tothe ground.

A pair of diametrically opposed brackets 47 (FIG. 10) are mounted oneach tubular section 41 of the rotor. Tie rods 48, secured to eachbracket, are pivotally connected on axis A to braces 49 which aresecured to each side of the rigid sleeve portions 44 of the suctiontubes. The flexible boot 43, which may, for example, be made of rubber,and the pivotal connection between tie rods 48 and braces 49, permit thesuction tubes to pivot about axis A with respect to the rotor. Thus, thesuction tubes, and the suction openings thereof, can move vertically.

On each suction tube, a gage wheel 50 (FIGS. 1 and 10) has an axle 51secured to one of the braces 49. The gage wheel, which is orientedgenerally tangential to a circle about the central axis B of rotation ofthe rotor, maintains the suction opening 46 at a predetermined heightabove the ground. Preferably, the suction tube is maintained just highenough to clear the nuts so that the suction opening will be as close aspossible to the nuts.

To upper end of the body 39 of rotor 40 is rotatably received in asleeve 52 (FIG. 2) secured to the lower end of a suction duct 55. A ring53 (FIG. 10), connected to the rotor, has a track 53a therein whichreceives a plurality of rollers 54 mounted on the frame around therotor. Suction duct 55 is secured to the frame and slopes upwardly fromthe rotor. The upper end of the suction duct 55 is connected toseparating mechanism 56 as shown in FIG. 5. The separating mechanism 56is made up of three chambers: an entry, or centrifugal, chamber 57 atthe upstream side of the separating mechanism, an intermediate, orvortex, chamber 58 in the middle of the separating mechanism, and ablower chamber 59 at the downstream side of the separating mechanism.

The entry chamber 57, into which the duct 55 leads, has an outer sidewall 60 with an access opening 61 therein as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7. Theaccess opening 61, which is covered during operation of the harvester byremovable panel 62, permits cleaning of the chamber 57. The other sidewall 63 of chamber 57, which separates that chamber from intermediatechamber 58, has an opening 64.

A pair of spaced apart curved plates 65 and 66 extend between the sideWalls 60, 63 of chamber 57 and define the front and rear walls of thechamber 57. Thus, the chamber 57 defines a scroll-shaped passageextending from the end of duct 55 to the opening 64 which leads intointermediate chamber 58.

The intermediate chamber 58, which has side wall 63 and opposite sidewall 70, is defined in part by the curved scroll-shaped plate 71extending between the side walls 63 and 70 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 8.Plate 71 extends from the right end of opening 64 (as viewed in FIG. 8)around to a rotary vacuum sealing valve, indicated generally at 72,which is located below the opening 64. Another plate 73, bent in themiddle and extending between the side walls 63 and 70, also forms a partof chamber 58. An access opening 74 in plate 71 is covered duringoperation of the machine by removable panel 75. A shaft 76 of valve 72,journaled in side walls 63 and 70, has six radial paddles 77 extendingacross the chamber 58. The outer ends of each paddle are flexible and,as the shaft 76 rotates, there is always at least one paddle engagedwith plate 71, and at least one paddle engaged with plate 73. Thus avacuum can be maintained in the chamber 58, defined by side walls 63 and70, plates 71 and 73, and panel 75, at the same time that the valveshaft is rotating to pass articles entrained between the paddles fromthe valve. A curved baffle plate 78 is mounted in chamber 58 and extendsacross the chamber.

The blower chamber 59 has inner side wall 70, with a central opening 79,and a removable outer side wall 80, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5'. A curvedplate 81 is formed in cylindrical conformation except for a rear opening82 to which a discharge duct 83 is connected. The plate 81 extendsbetween the walls 70 and to define the blower chamber which receives afan, indicated generally at 84, therein. A shaft 85, which extendsthrough chambers 58 and 59, is journaled in walls 63, 70 and 80.

Within chamber 59, six fan blades 86 are connected to the shaft andextend radially therefrom. A sheave 87 is connected to shaft outside theseparating mechanism 56.

The engine 32 has a power take-01f shaft 90 which has a sheave 91mounted theeron. Endless belts 92 received over sheaves 91 and 87, drivethe blower fan 84. An idler pulley 93 is adjustably mounted on theengine housing 31 to maintain the belts 92 taut.

A conveyor has two shafts 101, 102 journaled in the frame 15 (see FIGS.2, 3 and 9). Each shaft has two spaced apart sprockets (103, 104,respectively) to receive an endless web 105. The web 105 comprisesparallel, spaced, rods 106 extending transverse to the direction oftravel (indicated by arrows C) of. the web. Each rod 106' is linked toan adjacent rod at both ends. The conveyor 100 is positioned under therotary sealing valve 72, and nuts and debris passing through the valvedrop on the top run of endless web 105. The rods 106 are spaced farenough apart to pass the nuts (and smaller debris) which drop throughthe top and bottom run of the web 105 to a grate 107 immediately underthe bottom run. Twigs and other debris, indicated at 99, which are toolarge to pass through the upper run of the conveyor, are transported tothe right (as viewed in FIG. 3) by the upper run of the conveyor andfall to the ground. The lower run of the conveyor engages the nuts ongrate 107 which is made of spaced rods 98 extending in the direction oftravel of the lower run of the conveyor 100. The small debris fallsthrough the grate while the nuts move to the left to the ramp 108. Thenuts slide down the ramp to a shallow well 109 in grate 107.

An elevator 110, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, has two shafts 111 and112 joumaled in two parallel upstanding walls 113, 114 connected to theframe 15. Each shaft has a pair of spaced sprockets 115, 116 thereon.Two endless chains 117, 118 received on the sprockets and extend betweenthe shafts 111 and 112. A plurality of buckets 119, received betweenwalls 113, 114, are connected across the chains 117, 118 and, as thechains rotate, the buckets scoop nuts out of well 109 which is curved tofollow the path of the buckets. As the chain rotates in the directionindicated by arrows D, the buckets are turned upside down when they passover the upper sprockets of the elevator. A receptacle, which may, forexample, be a conveyor (not shown) or a bag, such as bag 190, ispositioned below the point where the buckets turn over tocatch the nutsfalling from the bucket. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, chains 117, 118 arerotated through a sprocket 121 mounted on shaft 111. An endless chain120, received over two idler sprockets 122, 123 connected to wall 114,engages drive sprockets 121. The chain 120 is received over a sprocket124 mounted on shaft 76 of rotary sealing valve 72.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 11, a hydraulic pump 125 is connected to engine32 and is driven thereby to take hydraulic fluid from sump 126 anddeliver it under pressure to pressure line 127. A relief valve 128 isconnected between pressure line 127 and sump 126 to limit the pressurein line 127. Pressure line 127 is connected to the pressure port of areversing valve 129. Valve 129 has two motor ports connectedrespectively to motor lines 130, 131. Motor line 130 is connected to oneside of both wheel motors 20a and 20b, and line 131 is connected to theopposite sides of the wheel motors. Valve 129 has two discharge ports132, 133 connected to return line 134. The valve 129 has a movable valvemember 135 which can be shifted either to the left or right of theposition shown by the manually operated lever 136. The valve 129 ismounted in the operators cab 29. When the operator shifts the lever 136forward, to shift valve member 135 to the right (as viewed in FIG. 11),fluid under pressure passes from line 127, through the valve, to motorline 130. This pressure fluid passes through the wheel motors, to drivethe machine forward, and returns from the motors by line 131, passingthrough valve 129, out port 133 to return line 134. Conversely, when theoperator shifts the lever 136 rearward, to shift valve member 135 to theleft (as viewed in FIG. 11), fluid under pressure passes from line 127,through the valve, to motor line 131. This pressure fluid passes throughthe wheel motors, to drive the machine rearwardly, and returns from themotors by line 130, passing through valve 129, out port 132 to returnline 134.

The rate at which the hydraulic wheel motors turn, and hence the speedof the harvesting machine, is determined by the setting of hydraulicthrottle valve 137. When the rotatable valve member 138 is in theposition shown in FIG. 11, no fluid can pass from line 134 to dischargeline 139 and the sump 126, so no fluid can flow through the wheelmotors. When valve member 138, which has a sloping face 140, is rotatedby handle 141, fluid can flow through the valve at a rate determined bythe extent of rotation of valve member 138. Thus, the wheel motors canrotate, and drive the harvester, at a speed determined by the angularsetting of valve handle 141.

Pressure line 127 is connected to an inlet port of blocking valve 145.Valve 145 has a shiftable valve member 146 which, when in the positionshown in FIG. 11, blocks the flow of hydraulic fluid through the valve.When the valve member 146 is shifted to the right (as viewed in FIG. 11)by handle 147, fluid can flow through the valve from the inlet port tothe outlet port which is connected to motor line 148. Fluid flowingthrough line 148 rotates the auxiliary equipment hydraulic motor 149,and passes therethrough into the discharge line 139 and the sump.

The wheel motors 20a and 20b are mounted on the frame and have sprockets151 and 152 which receive, respectively, endless chains 21a and 21b. Thechains 21a and 2112 are received on sprockets 155 and 156 connected,respectively, to axles 16 and 17. The auxiliary equipment motor 149, asshown best in FIG. 9, is mounted on wall 70 and is coupled to a shaft160 extending through walls 70 and 63. Shaft 160 is engaged with theinput shaft of gearbox 161, which has an output shaft 162. A pulley 163is mounted on output shaft 162 and receives an endless belt 164. Belt164 is received in groove 165 of ring 53 on rotor 40, as shown in FIGS.2 and 10, to rotate the rotor by means of the drive train defined byhydraulic motor 149, shaft 160, gearbox 161, shaft 162, pulley 163, andbelt 164. A sprocket 166 on shaft 160 receives chain 167.

The shaft 76 of valve 72, in addition to the sprocket -124 which drivesthe elevator, has a sprocket 168 mounted thereon, shown in FIG. 2, whichreceives chain 167. The shaft 101 of conveyor 100 has a sprocket 169thereon which also receives chain 167. Chain 167 is also engaged withidler sprocket 170 which is adjustably mounted on the frame. Thus, theendless web 105 of conveyor 100 is continuously driven through the drivetrain defined by shaft 149, shaft 160, sprocket 165, chain 167, sprocket168, and sprocket 169. It will be noted that the rotary valve iscontinuously driven by chain 167 to continuously drive the elevatorthrough chain 120.

The suction, or vacuum, system of the harvester is defined by thesuction tubes 42, the rotor 40, the suction duct 55, the entry chamber57, the intermediate chamber 58, and the blower chamber 59. When theengine is started, the fan in the blower chamber blows air out thedischarge duct 83. The only other openings in the suction system are thesix suction openings 46a, 46b, 46c, 46d, 46e and 46 at the ends of thesuction tubes. Consequently, when the fan is rotating to discharge airout duct 83, air is drawn into the system through the six suctionopenings and circulated through the system for discharge out duct 83.

As the harvesting machine moves along a longitudinal path, such as thestraight linear path (FIGS. 12A to 12F and 13), the rotor 40 rotatesabout a central axis of rotation B (which continuously intersects path180) to move the suction tubes 42, and the openings 46a, 46b, 46c, 46d,46e, 46f thereof in orbital paths around axis B. Although the openingsat the ends of the six suction tubes move in the same circular pathabout axis B with respect to the machine, the paths of the openings 46ato 46f over the ground are all different with respect to the groundbecause the axis B is advancing with respect to the ground as the rotorrotates. Each of the FIGS. 12A to 12F show the path of one suctionopening with respect to the same two points P and Q fixed on the groundand with respect to the same linear path 180 followed by the axis B ofthe rotor. Considering the path of only one of the suction openings, sayopening 46a, the magnitude of the area of ground covered in relation tothe small size of the opening in a single pass of the machine should benoted. Although, with six small suction openings, the suction at eachwill be less than if there were only one opening, there will be sixtimes the area of ground covered at any instant as with only oneopening. The six orbiting suction openings will move in overlappingpaths, as can be seen from FIG. 13( which shows the paths of all theopenings) and nuts which may not be picked up when first encountered byone suction tube, will probably be collected by a subsequent tube ortubes. It should be noted that a nut at point P will be encountered byfour suction openings (46b, 46c, 46e and 46 while a nut at point Q willbe encountered by at least five of the openings 46a to 462.

Debris, including twigs, leaves, dirt, and small stones, will inevitablybe sucked up into the harvester with the nuts. The nuts and debris willpass through the rotor 40, suction duct 55, into entry chamber 57. Asshown best in FIGS. 2 and 5, the nuts and heavier objects of debris willbe centrifugally thrown to the outer side of the scroll-shaped chamberas the nuts and debris are drawn to the opening 64 into the intermediatechamber. As the nuts and debris are pulled into the intermediate chamberby the suction created throughout the suction system by the blower fan,the nuts and other heavier articles drop over the lip 181 at the bottomof opening 64 into the rotating valve.

The blower draws air from the intermediate chamber through the centralopening 79 in the wall 70, creating a vortex in that chamber circulatingaround the bafile plate 78 therein. The leaves and outer light debrisdrawn into the intermediate chamber are caught up in the vortex in thechamber and are drawn along a helical path, indicated by arrows 182 inFIG. 5, through opening 79 into the blower chamber. This debris isdischarged from the blower chamber through duct 83 to the atmosphere.

The nuts and other heavy debris, which fell into rotary valve 72 passthrough the vacuum sealing valve onto the upper run of web 105 ofconveyor 100. The nuts and smaller debris fall through the upper run anddrop partially through the lower run onto a grate 107. Larger debris,such as t-wigs, is carried out of the machine to the ground by the upperrun of the conveyor while the nuts and smaller debris is carried in theopposite direction to well 109 in the grate by the lower run of theconveyor. The grate 107 retains the nuts but passes the dirt and othersmall debris to the ground. The nuts are scooped out of the well by thebuckets 119 of elevator 1'10 and dumped into bag 190.

Thus, a harvesting machine is provided which pneumatically gathers nutsin a wide swath on each pass of the machine and provides successive,overlapping coverage in the swath. Three separate, effective,separations of the nuts from debris are provided in the machine,including a centrifugal separation and two sizing separations (that is,two separations based on the relative size of the nuts and the debris).

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent thatmodification and variation may be made without departing from what isregarded to be the subject matter of the invention.

Having completed a detailed description of the invention so that thoseskilled in the art could practice the same, I claim:

1. In a machine for harvesting randomly dispersed nuts or the like fromthe ground, said machine movable 'along a longitudinal path, thecombination comprising a plurality of suction tubes depending from themachine and terminating close to the ground, means to move the ends ofsaid suction tubes in different orbital paths over the ground as themachine moves along said longitudinal path, and means to receivearticles drawn through said suction tubes.

2. In a machine for harvesting randomly dispersed nuts or the like fromthe ground, said machine having aframe spaced from the ground andmovable along -a longitudinal path, the combination comprising a rotormounted on the frame and rotatable thereon about an axis, a plurality ofsuction tubes connected to the rotor and depending in angularly spacedrelation therefrom, said suction tubes terminating close to the groundfor orbital movement about said axis in different paths with respect tothe ground as said machine moves along said longitudinal path, and meansconnected to the rotor to receive articles drawn through said suctiontubes.

3. In a machine for harvesting randomly dispersed nuts or the like fromthe ground, said machine having a frame spaced from the ground andmovable along a longitudinal path, the combination comprising a rotormounted on the frame and rotatable thereon about an axis, said rotorhaving a chamber, means to evacuate air from said chamber, a pluralityof tubes connected to said rotor and depending therefrom in angularlyspaced relation about said axis, said tubes communicating with saidchamber and defining suction members terminating close to the ground fororbital movement about said axis in overlapping paths with respect tothe ground as the machine moves along said longitudinal path, and meansconnected to the chamber in the rotor to receive articles drawn up saidsuction tubes.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which the means to evacuate air from saidchamber comprises a centrifugal blower having a housing and a closedpassage extending between said rotor chamber and said blower housing.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said tubes extend outwardly anddownwardly from said rotor.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 in which the ends of said tubes arevertically movable and in which each tube has a roller connected to theend thereof to hold the end of the tube a predetermined distance abovethe ground as the machine moves over uneven terrain.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,502,810 4/1950 Waters 56-3282,593,625 4/ 19,52 Stokes 56-328 2,781,625 2/1957 Phelps et al. 56-3282,807,128 9/ 19 57 Helfrich 56-328 3,040,366 6/ 1962 Vance. 3,182,4375/1965 Ramacher et al. 56-328 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner J. N.ESKOVITZ, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 15-340 32 3? UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Pa nt N 3,5 23 Dsted July 1 1,1970 Inventor(s) J, M, PATTERSON It is certified that error appears inthe above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Column 2, line 23 change "degris" to --debris--.

Column 3, line 7 delete "16" at the end of the line.

Column l, line 43 phange "theeron" to there on--- Column 7', line &7after "machine" insert --in angularly spaced relation therefrom Signedand sealed this 31st day of August 1971 (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT OTTSCHLAK Att ti Officer ActingCommissioner of Patents

